Barbed wire.



No. 638,320.. Patented Dec. 5, 1899.

r. c. CARROLL.

BARBED WIRE.

Applicution filed June 15', 1598.

(No Model J75 Ve n/"far! ZM c. Q

- FRANCIS O. CARROLL, OF PEORIA, ILLINOIS.

'BARBED WIRE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 638,320, dated.December 5, 899.

Application filed June 15,1898. Serial No. 683,491. (No model.)

To aZ/l whom/it may concern:

Be it known that I, FRANCIS G. CARROLIJ, a citizen of the United States,residing at Peoria, in the county of Peoria and State of Illinois, haveinvented certain new and useful Improvements in Barb-VVire; and I dohereby declare that the following is a full, clear, and exactdescription of the invention, which will enable others skilled in theart to which it appertains to make and use the same.

My invention relates to certain new and useful improvements in barb-wirewhich is principally used for fencing and by means of which I provide abarb-wire which is well fitted for the purpose and contains a feature ofimprovement over the ordinary barb-wire that is peculiarly beneficial toits useviz., a barb which will gently prick the stock and then turn outof harms way, so as not to lacerate the flesh.

More particularly, my invention relates to a barb-wire which in itsconstruction provides a rotatable barb so sensitively adjusted that itmoves on its pivot at the slightest touch and when relieved from theexternal contact automatically returns to its normal position, which iscaused by the fact that one arm is longer than the other and thereforeheavier and serves as aweight, whereby the shorter or lighter arm isheld normally projecting from the fence at an oblique angle to ahorizontal.

My invention consists, essentially, of a pivoted barb supported upon oneof the strands of a double or twisted stringer-wire at points thereonwhere the strands are expanded or separated, providing space to permitthe free turning of the barb and to prevent impingement thereof; also, aconstruction consisting of a single strand of wire crimped at points anda barb pivoted upon the wire and standing within the crimped portion;also, a pivoted barb which may be formed with a long and short armorpoint, making a double barb.

I am aware that barb-wire has been patented and is in use wherein acable-strand is used and a barb somewhat similar in construction to theone herein shown has, been employed; but the barb and the cable-strandsused are twisted firmly and tightly together and the barb is held in afixed and immovable position, whereas the rotatable feature of the barbis essential to my invention.

That my invention may be more fully understood, reference is had to theaccompany ing drawings, in which Figure 1 shows an elevation of asection of fence embodying my invention. Fig. 2 shows an enlargedsectional view of the same. Fig. 3 is a detail view showing asingle-strand wire crimped at a point therein, with the barb rest ing atthe crimped point.

In the figures, A A are the strands that form the cable or stringer.

a are open spaces provided in the cable by expanding or holding thestrands apart at different points by suitable mechanical appliances.

B is a barb which is twisted into a loop somewhat larger than andloosely surrounding the lowermost strand A, as best shown in Fig. 2,which permits the barb to turn freely on the wire as an axis.

b is a long or heavy arm of the barb, serving as a weight, and b is ashorter arm, which formation of the barb adapts it to act automaticallyto revert back to its normal position when disturbed from any cause.

The essential feature of my invention is the looping of the barb-wireloosely around its pivoting-wire to make it rotatable thereon andadapting it to move by external contact.

In Fig. 2, A A are separate strands of the cable, and a the spacebetween them, it being shown in the figure that the barb B will turn onthe pivotal wire almost entirely around the short arm b and will passbetween the strands, while the long arm I) will not. However, the barbmay be so constructed or the space may be made so large that it willrevolve entirely around the axis. The construction and formation ofthese parts are left to the discretion of the manufacturer.

In the form of barb herein shown both arms are tangential to the loopand stand in aplane but should he do so the barb turns under the forceapplied until the arms stand approximately vertical and even violentpressure cannot'lacerate his flesh. When the animal departs, each armautomatically resumes its normal position, as above. Obviously the barbwill not hang in this position unless one arm is heavier, and it cannothave the rotary action described unless the upper strand A issufficiently raised to permit; but by raising this strand as high asshown I gain the further advantage that the points of the short arms areprotected from above, and henceif this improved barb-wire is used alongthe top of the fence the larger animals, that often put their heads overit, will not tear their throats by downward pressure.

In Fig. 3, O is a single strand, 0 is a crimp in the strand, and B isthe pivoted barb. If the single strand is used, it will be necessary toform the crimps in the strand, with rather sharp offsets at thebending-points, so as to prevent the barb from longitudinal displacewent from the crimp.

Barb-wire fencing employing fixed barbs has been in use for many yearsand very extensively, although at all times objectionable for suchpurpose, for the reason that it was dangerous to stock, as the fixedbarbs would lacerate and injure the flesh, which is evidenced by thefact that it is difficult to find afarm-animal of any kind that does notshow, even on casual observation, marks and scars resulting from contactwith barb-wire fencing; but in the last few years a smooth wire fabrichas been put upon the market and is rapidly displacing barb wirefencing, although more expensive to the user. My invention relievesbarb-wire of this objectionable feature, and if perfectly manufacturedwill produce a fence that will present all of the warning and cautioningfeatures of barbwire fencing that are observed and heeded by stockgenerally when not impelled by eX- citement, but is perfectly harmlessif they run against it, rub against it, or be thrown against it, as thebarbs from contact will adjust themselves so that they will not lacerateor penetrate the flesh."

What I claim as new is 1. A barb for wire fences consisting of a singlepiece 'of wire formed intermediate its length into a loop adapted topivotally surround the stringer-wire in a plane only at right angles tothe length of the fence, the ends of said piece of wire projecting inopposite directions from the loop and one of theni being pointed whilethe other causes the pointed arm of the barb to normally project fromthe loop upward obliquely to a horizontal, the structure permitting therise of this pointed arm only in said transverse plane, substantially asdescribed.

2. In a barb-wire fence, the combination with the stringer-wire; of abarb comprising a loop encircling said wire and pivoted thereon so as toswing only in a vertical plane, and two arms projecting oppositely on asingle tangential line from the loop one of them being longer so thatthey will normally stand oblique to a horizontal but both being capableof swinging simultaneously into the upright plane of the fence, as andfor the purpose set forth.

3. In a barb-wire fence, the combination with the stringer-wire composedof strands separated vertically at intervals; of a barb in each openingthus formed comprising a loop pivotally surrounding the lower strand,and lighter and heavier arms projecting oppositely from the loop so thatthe lighter arm will stand normally oblique to a horizontal. and out ofcontact with any strand but the lowermost, as and for the purpose setforth.

4. In a barb-wire fence, the combination with the stringer-wire composedof strands separated vertically at intervals; of a barb in each openingthus formed comprising a loop pivotally surrounding the lower strand andtwo pivoted arms projecting from the loop, one of them being slightlyheavier than the other so that both will stand normally oblique to ahorizontal, and one arm being of a length to pass between the strands,substantially as described.

5. In a barb-wire fence, the combination with the stringer-wire composedof strands separated vertically at intervals; of a barb in each openingthus formed comprising a loop pivotally surrounding the lower strand andtwo arms projecting from the loop, one of them being slightly longer andheavier than the other so that both will stand normally oblique to ahorizontal, and the shorter arm being of a length to pass between thestrands, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof I affix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

FRANCIS O. CARROLL.

Witnesses:

PEARL BABcooK, W. V. TEFFT.

